Court rejects death row tycoon Truong My Lan’s appeal to get back 2 Hermes bags

By Hai Duyen, Quoc Thang April 21, 2025 | 12:47 am PT

An appeal court Monday rejected property tycoon Truong My Lan’s request for the return of two Hermes albino crocodile bags, saying that she had bought them using illicit funds.

The two bags, together valued at over VND10 billion (US$367,000), were confiscated during a police investigation into Lan for crimes against Saigon Commercial Bank and her property development company Van Thinh Phat.

Lan said she bought one of them in Italy and the other was a gift from a Malaysian billionaire.

A model carries a Hermes signature Birkin with Himalayan crocodile leather and diamonds, sold for $300,168 at a Christie's auction on May 30, 2016 which becomes the world's most expensive handbag, at a preview in Hong Kong, China May 4, 2016. Photo by Reuters

She wanted the bags to be given back to her family members.

But the court turned down her appeal, upholding the ruling made by a court last October.

Both courts said the bags had to be used to compensate victims.

Property tycoon Truong My Lan seen at the People's High Court of Ho Chi Minh City in April 2025. Photo by VnExpress/Thanh Tung

The appeal court commuted her life imprisonment for bond fraud and other crimes to 30 years, taking cognizance of her efforts to compensate victims.

Lan is on death row for embezzling Saigon Commercial Bank.

In April she and her accomplices were found guilty of embezzling from SCB and causing it a loss of VND677 trillion (US$27 billion) over the course of a decade.